Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ Bombs

'Jack the Giant Slayer' may have taken the number one spot at the box office, but no one is celebrating -- it may sit at the top, but it sits at the top of one of the weakest box office weekends since, well, last weekend.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Jack the Giant Slayer

$28,010,000

$7,946

$28,010,000

2

Identity Thief

$9,706,000 (-30.8)

$3,005

$107,433,000

3

21 and Over

$9,000,000

$3,248

$9,000,000

4

The Last Exorcism Part II

$8,030,000

$2,974

$8,030,000

5

Snitch

$7,700,000 (-41.5)

$3,067

$24,410,000

6

Escape From Planet Earth

$6,726,000 (-37.0)

$2,163

$43,213,000

7

Safe Haven

$6,300,000 (-39.7)

$2,135

$57,093,000

8

Silver Linings Playbook

$5,941,000 (+3.3)

$3,236

$115,521,000

9

A Good Day to Die Hard

$4,500,000 (-55.7)

$1,738

$59,624,000

10

Dark Skies

$3,556,000 (-56.6)

$1,537

$13,453,000

With a budget of over $200 million, 'Jack the Giant Slayer' needed an opening weekend significantly larger than $28 million if it wanted to even begin to make its money back. The combination of numerous delays, dire marketing and less than enthusiastic reviews have made this the first giant box office bomb of 2013, this year's 'John Carter,' if you will. Director Bryan Singer is pretty fortunate that he's already signed on the dotted line for 'X-Men: Days of Future Past.'

After dominating the box office for the past few weeks, 'Identity Thief' slipped to the number two spot with $9.7 million and a current total of $107 million. In other words, it's one of the few movies in the top ten that even remotely looks like a hit at the moment.

'21 and Over' opened in the third spot with $9 million, which is pretty good for a movie that cost as little as it did but pretty bad for a movie that was being positioned as a teen friendly 'Hangover.' Similarly, the $8 million opening for 'The Last Exorcism Part II' isn't great (especially since the first one was a pretty big hit a few years ago), but with a budget of only $5 million, it's not the disaster it may appear to be, just a disappointment.

In fifth place, 'Snitch' took a heavy drop for a $7.7 million gross and a $24 million total. You can be The Rock has his fingers crossed that 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' is a hit later this month. Right under it, 'Escape From Planet Earth' continued to perform solidly but not spectacularly, taking advantage of the fact that it's the only kid-friendly movie out there right now. In seventh place, 'Safe Haven' grossed $6.3 million for a total of $57 million, good numbers for a Nicholas Sparks movie, even if it's nowhere near 'The Notebook.'

And then we hit the only other true hit in the top ten: 'Silver Linings Playbook,' which rode its Oscar success to another $5.9 million and a $115 million gross. A few other films outside of the top ten also had a small Oscar bump, including 'Life of Pi' and 'Argo.'

The top ten is rounded out with 'A Good Day to Die Hard' and 'Dark Skies.' 'Dark Skies' is cheap enough that it's low gross isn't that big of a deal, but 'A Good Day to Die Hard' looks like it won't even outgross the original 'Die Hard' (before inflation).

Next week sees the release of 'Oz The Great and Powerful,' which will hopefully rescue the box office from its slump.